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Monday, January 3, 2011

I felt victorious yesterday as I hauled the last large plastic garbage bag heaped with old shoes, pilled sweaters, and a few cast off skirts that hit me mid-calf for a nice calf-turned-coffee-can effect into the garage next to the other Goodwill mounds. I had done it. In true new-year, new-me fashion, I had knocked off the first of resolutions with an intense two-day closet purging.

And even though the brand name on my new shoe rack is ironic considering my natural tendencies, I'd at least like to pay homage to another one of my attempts in fooling myself that the purchase of a new shoe rack (or bin or basket or shelf) is suddenly going to change everything. It's going to be different this time, right? All I needed was this shoe rack, Man. I've been waiting all my life for this baby.

Regardless of the shoe rack's success, there is something to be said about the biological rhythms we feel with each new season.

I like to burrow into my cave with the holidays. I crave change and renewal with a new year. I yearn for a good spring cleaning when the breeze shifts in March, and I dream of flowers and pink and pastel gingham cotton just about the time the Peeps hit the shelves come Spring. In July, my soul is fed with hot pavement and cold popsicles, in October I want to don aprons and bake pies, and come November, the cycle begins again.

Nurture or Nature? Who knows. I take it and run.

It is a new year. And yes, an afternoon game of Candyland or a trip to the lake is so much more important than my house being clean. But there's also a happy medium, and it's time my bedroom becomes the sanctuary it deserves to be. I will make my bed. I will pick up my crap. Because, come afternoon, sunlight comes pouring in our back window, spilling onto our covers in a way that begs you to bask in it. Because there's a small round table by my bed that, when cleared, has the perfect spot for a tea cup and a book. Because, when I actually take the time to create the space we deserve, it makes me happy.

So I cleaned. I purged. I simplified. And, in doing so, I cleared spaces in my mind that feel more capable to take on opportunities. Not to mention, I didn't feel quite so guilty today when the accomplishment list was on the meager side. We bathed and fed and watched Little Bear. Oh, and we played Doctor. And, for the record, my blood pressure was "eleven four," my throat "looks dirty," and my temperature was, I'm sorry to say, sixteen.

The new year has been kind so far.

New Year's firework show in neighbor's driveway.

We enjoyed our first handful of harvest from our garden, despite having to blanket our small plot a few nights ago from the southern chill.

We still got our green beans.

She dressed herself, and she's really into the whole stripes overboard thing right now.

I'm sitting here smiling just writing this because I've never fancied myself a gardener, but here I am, pluckin' beans in January, postin' pics of trowels and meaty greens and it feels damn good.

We must surprise ourselves every once in awhile, eh?

My diving head first into New Year's resolutions has been nicely balanced with slower-paced, gentler ambitions like taking more time to enjoy those I love.

In the form of girlfriends corralled in my kitchen clutching coffee cups and cradling babies...

Nella and new Baby Kinsley

...and being fully present for these girls during dedicated moments for them-time. No phones. No wandering thoughts. Just them.

Daddy says she is "wild and bossy" with her babies. She yells at them and flips them around all crazy while she hollers. Funniest thing ever.

I am forgiving of myself and accept that life is messy, and sometimes being good enough means balancing a phone, a laundry basket, a baby, and a pot of overcooked sticky macaroni. But there is also something to be said about proclaiming resolutions--saying them out loud so we feel their importance. We'll rearrive, reclaim, and reaffirm it all months later. And that's okay too. But I think just by wanting to be more subtracts the "enough" from "good enough" and what you are left with is good. We are good moms and wives and daughters and friends because we recognize our faults, embrace our imperfections, create meaningful challenges and weave them all together in some brilliant tapestry of wanting to be better, to be more. That, in itself, makes us pretty damn good.

And this one?

My, has she grown this month, surfacing some new qualities that have remained hidden until this blessed moment of three-and-more-than-a-half.

Like, she's suddenly a peacemaker.

In a recent faceoff of Dog vs. Cat on a walk to the lake, she intervened.

Amid the hissing and tail-raising and Latte's aggresive stance, I watch as Lainey scoops Latte up, holds her down, finds a nice distance from the cat and plops to the cement, humming sweetly, in this motherly tone, consoling phrases like "Oh, it's okay. Don't be scared. It's a nice kitty."

She charmed them both into friendship, she did.

And, as I said, she picks out not only her own clothes but Nella's too. And insists that stripes with stripes with stripes isn't too much.

Finally, I'm starting off my year loving this new art from a very talented, effervescent, life-loving crazy fun girl.

We found each other shortly after Nella was born, and her art and her crazy musings have inspired me along the way. She just left her day job and I'm woo-hooing her courage and her creativity in flight. Check her out.

2011 commences with my clean closet, a peaceful space in my bedroom, and some sponsors here I'm proud to represent.

1. Take an overnight train trip in the mountains with my family. Sleeper cars. Lying in bed knowing we're going somewhere. Hearing the thumpthumpthump of the tracks underneath us. Heaven, I tell you.2. Swim with sharks. Not because I want to. I'd hate it. I'm terrified of sharks and I live in Florida. But overcoming it would be really powerful. And doing something that scares you is good.3. See U2 in concert with my brother and sister.4. Learn how to play the guitar.5. Read Anne of Green Gables to my girls. In late night sections where they're tucked in and sleepy and barely staying awake but begging me to read another chapter because surely, Anne is eventually going to fall in love with Gilbert, right?

Your turn. If you comment...please share 5 things from your bucket list. As Mary Oliver says, What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Tell me.

Sorry to hear your throat is dirty. If its any consolation my niece recently played dentist and told me ' I can see what you mean when you say you've got a lot of fillings, but don't worry, you don't need one today'.

Going to memorise this - ''But I think just by wanting to be more subtracts the "enough" from "good enough" and what you are left with is good. '' You're the first person to make me feel better just for trying!

5 things, need to think about that. Will do so as I try to get to sleep again. It is 4.26 am here. Goodnight Kelle, sweet girls, and cute dogs too!!

Ha, had my list ready because I did the Daily Challenge earlier today!

1. Illustrate a children's book.2. Rent an apartment for my family in Venice for 3 months and invite friends to visit (one can dream!)3. Visit Paris with my hubbies (and no children.)4. Take a train trip (with sleeping coaches!) all over Europe with my family.5. Raise millions of dollars for charity.

Kelle, I have a bucket list that is so long it is overwhelming. So I started a long time something I like to call 10 in 10. I try to choose the 10 things off my bucket list I think I can realistically accomplish in 10 years. The goal being 1 every year. And if I can do more then that, well even better. You can see by the completion year in parentheses how just making a list makes you want to achieve it!!

Crossed off the list baby!!!# Have another Baby (2008)# Renew my Wedding Vows (2009)# Become a Brunette (2009)# Complete a Triathlon (2009)# Start a side-Business(2009)# Get really fit (2009/2010)# Go Skiing- FIRST time (2010)# Get on Bone Marrow Registry (2010)# Become a runner (2010)# Run a Half Marathon (2010)

Here are the ones I hope to complete in the next decade...# Take my children to Disney # Take some cooking classes # Go to Europe# Sky Dive# Take a Hot Air Balloon Ride# Work on a house for Habitat for Humanity# Spend a weekend in New York City# Renew my vows in Italy# Volunteer in my community# Take my kids to the Polar Express

Totally off topic, but I'm reading two books I think you might like. One is "Life is a Verb." Can't remember the author. The other is the Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. LOVING these books - about being who you are and enjoying life to the fullest. And they're not difficult reads, which is nice for a mama who can get interrupted at any moment.

I've been staring at my computer for a solid 2 minutes now. Why in the world is this so hard??

bucket list:1.hot air balloon ride over a mountain2.take my family on a missions trip to a third world country3.nyc at christmas time 4.do an airstream camper trip to yellowstone with my peeps5.i should do the shark thing, but that will never happen...so maybe snorkel...baby steps;)

Love your list. Love this post as usual. I'm in the clean mode too. I have a goal of a solid room redo a week. Clean curtains, blinds, baseboards, purge stuff I don't need. Figure it will take me 'til summer!

Wow- I jumped straight up in my chair and yipped, "What is my cat doing in Florida?!" because Latte's new buddy looks exactly-actly like my boy!!And Lainey is growing up so lovely- and photogenic! I love the way Nella looks at Kinsley... so sweet!

Right now, I have a list that includes "write New Year's Resolutions." With a capital R, like that.

So far, the brainstorms listed in pencil underneath say:1. Use your monthly budget. (I'm really into mint.com for this one.)2. Clean the "crap I don't need" room and show my friends how many great crafts will come out of it. Right now it's just a room with the window that lets us climb onto the roof.3. Race the Country Music half-marathon.4. Pray every day.5. Adventure every month. January: Baltimore, MD

My bucket list:1. Drink Guinness in Ireland with my husband.2. Take a family vacation at the beach - with nothing to do but chill.3. Watch my children grow up - and learn when to hold them tighter, and when to let them go.4. Take a trip with my girlfriends to celebrate turning 40!5. Overcome my fear of flying - I love to travel - but HATE getting there!

you know how sometimes people race to be the first to comment. i will never be that person, methinks. 'cause i love to read your words and my words seem so trivial.the bucket list.1. write these 3 kids books that are stuck in my head2. live somewhere new and exciting - just long enough to realize that this is where i really want to be.3. ride a horse on a beach4. go whale watching in hawaii during the baby-whale season5. take all 3 kids on vacation. by myself. (which is probably not as terrifying as swimming with sharks. but a close second.)yippee! for birthday parties! we're going all out with finn's vw bus theme.

Good Lordy girl...get me thinking this late at night. I love lifetime goals.

-Start a blog (snatch! started 2 weeks ago).-Learn to use PMC (silver clay) to expand my jewelry-making skills.-Take tap lessons with a friend.-Go on a summer trip to the midwest for the sole purpose of hitting 3-4 water parks.-Get my motorcycle license.

I think the list is every growing/changing. It's just important to look at everyday as a learning experience. There's always room to grow regardless if you're 2 or 62.

-Get married to a man who treats me like gold (p.s. i think i found him 4 months ago)-Have a baby(or a few) who loves me more than anything-Become an orthodontist-Take 4 million pictures of my children as they grow, something I wish my parents had done for me-See my dad cry tears of happiness, most likely at my wedding

5 bucket list items that came off the top of my head, Im not sure they are at the top but they were what I thought of!

I am not a bucket lister. I guess I don't want to get to the end and count the things I missed. I'd rather just enjoy the adventure of getting there...But I smiled huge when I read your Anne of Green Gables wish.I am taking my girls (9 and 12) to Prince Edward Island this summer for 2 glorious weeks. We are going to play in red sand, eat lobster, and try our longest road trip ever.Guess what they got for Christmas this year? Yep, you got it. Anne of Green Gables. My plan is to lie in bed and read it to them during the month leading up to the trip. Just the thought of it thrills me.

Kelle, I love your blog! I have a pretty large list of things I hope to accomplish before I turn 55 years old, but here is a chunk of the list that I hope to accomplish in 2011: 1. Take 55 beautiful photos with my new camera.2. Make homemade pasta 5 times.3. Treat myself to a fabulous new purse.4. Give 5 random gifts for no reason.5. Have a family portrait taken with my kids.

Yet again yo get right to my heart with your words. It's like you know what I need to hear. Thank you.

As for my list, I actually used to have one, but I don't know where it is. :) I do have a few I remember:

1. Visit France. Specifically the Loire Valley w/ all the castles. I love a good fairy tale.

2. Buy back my grandfathers cabin in big bear he sold after my grandmother died. That place holds so many memories that even 3 years later it still hurts that it's gone. I'd love to share them with my son.

3. Have a child naturally. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my epidural, but something in me wants that accomplishment to know I can do it!

4. Experience New England in the fall. Those colors take my breath away.

5.Learn to just... be. to not have to be doing something, but rather just "be" and to be content with that!

Hi Kelle! The picture of Nella & beautiful baby Kinsley...how is Nella THAT BIG?!? Seriously. I love your bucket list & reminds me I need to work on mine! I wasn't going to say anything but you mentioned Anne of Green Gables, & I'm from PEI, so...we have emailed each other a few times, earlier this year & you were in my top ten moments of 2010!! Hugs & love Sherri

1. Attend Hogmanay in Scotland (Scottish New Year).2. Christmas in Paris (we have friends there, it could happen).3. Take my family to Disneyland to celebrate my nephew's high school graduation (happening summer 2011).4. Fly fishing in Montana.5. Visit every state in the US and all the national parks (I have visited over 20 states, so it's a work in progress LOL).

Here are a couple of not-so-dreamy get-off-the-bucket-list things:1. Get more patience.2. Get more creative.3. Get more patience. Wait, did I use that one already?

I love the pic of Nella and the baby. Nella looks so protective of the little one... super cute!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you guys are able to have a garden this time of year! So jealous! :)

As for bucket list goodies, here's a few randoms that I have:

1. Go back to visit Hawaii with all of my kids (and the future ones that are still to come)2. Dance in the rain 3. See my babies get married one day4. Love on all my future grandbabies (my mom died this year and I am so sad she never got to meet my secondborn, born in September)5. Watch my Oregon Ducks win the national championship next Monday ;)

Isn't the feeling after a cleaning/clothing purge the best! Great start to the new year :) Can't wait to hear all about your plans for Nella's first birthday!

5 things on my bucket list ...

1. Run the 2011 NYC Marathon2. Become a certified yoga instructor3. Take a photography course4. Go on an African Safari with my hubby5. Be the best mom possible for my little girls. I need to learn to slow down and really enjoy the small things. Moments are fleeting and they are only little once. You are helping me learn how to do this ... Thank you Kelle!

1) RV trip through Utah, Idaho, Whyoming and Montana with my son.2) To stand on the promenade of the Taj Mahal at sunset3) Write a book about healing from the emotional trauma of my c-section after a planned homebirth4) Learn how to let go

The infamous Bucket List:1. Learn to sew a quilt telling the story of my life, weaving together the ins and outs of this crazy wonderful life....2. Make my husband a daddy, whether we adopt or have our own, they would be lucky to call him "Dad"3. Restore a house with a wrap around porch4. Sit and bask in the morning sunlight with beams streaming through the windows, hearing God's beat one with mine, finding my inner peace5. Pay tribute to our first baby, the one only heaven knows now....

i am with you! i am cleaning and deciding whether or not to say goodbye (and sell on craigslist) our elliptical machine that i MADE my husband buy 2 years ago but have not once touched. we live in a tiny beach house, and we are so short on space. what would YOU do? will this be THE year that i use it, or should i just say enough is enough?

my bucket list:

-adopt a special needs child-visit all the continents besides antarctica (b/c i don't like the cold)-dye my hair bright red-go on a spa trip with my best friend forever-travel across the world to burn's beach, australia, to meet a blogger friend who has impacted the lives of so many i know!

I made a bucket list when I was a little girl. So far, I've accomplished 26 things of the 102. Here are 5 I have yet to go: 1) Touch a dolphin 2) See an LA Dodgers game 3) Sing the national anthem at a pro sports event 4) Ride a camel 5) Learn to crochet

Kelle thank you for sharing your thoughts, you get them out brilliantly.

I call my bucket list my B.I.B list.."Before I'm Buried," I want to..

-go far, out of my comfort zone of HOME in Maryland to finish college on time and meet some neat & good people. Just applied to Montana!-write a children's book series-ride an elephant-become better everyday at being myself-Fall in love..have some babies

oh my, you leave me stuttering...you say it all so well.have you added "write a book"???you need to do that!

1. rent a cottage in PEI...right on the beach2. learn how to make my mom's pickles3. grow a veggie garden4. lose a bunch of weight before my daughters have weddings (i have plenty of time yet thank goodness!)5. do something that i love AND create an income from it...

I Iove the your bucket list! I make sure to try and overcome my fears by submursing myself in them all the time. Here are some of my bucket list I hope to check off this wonderful 2011! 1. Sky dive ( talk about that overcoming fear thing :) ) 2. Wonder aimlessly around central park! Including a little picnic (I can just imagine how peaceful it is -there is something magical about the way nature and city collide) 3. Take a photo of that days events everyday and make a scrap book of them4. Go the top of th space needle in Seattle ( as well as jump in huge puddle of rain water !!!) - luckily I will be in Seattle in 2 weeks! :)5. And lasty but not least as sort of a resolution and bucket list accomplishment- fulfill one or more random acts of service and day! I hope you 2011 has started off well! And I wish you the best of luck on the organization bit! My closet could use one fotbose!

1. Visit friends in London.2. Take our girls to the mountains.3. Roast marshmallows and sleep under the stars with my daughters.4. Travel around Texas to dance in old dance halls.5. Go to Vegas with my husband!

Kelle...thanks for this post! I love it as usual. Here's my five (many,many more are filling me up too!):1) see the monarchs in the mountains of Mexico2) own a small cottage by the beach3) be in a flash mob4) see the pyramids in Egypt5) plant a rose and dedicate it to my husband with some amazing poem written on a plaque and plant it in McKinley Garden (a public garden) on our 25th wedding anniversary <3

the top five is like a shape-shifter over here. but so far, this is what i have:

1. visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi Kenya, where i'm sure to fall head over heels in love with all the elephant babes being fostered there.2. walk hand-in-hand with the husband while taking in autumn in New York...a must. (and an overnight "freezing our treasure chests off" while waiting in line wait to see the Daily Show)3. Ireland, home of ancestors that call me.4. dance at the weddings of my children. because then i'll know they've learned enough to learn to love and find love and risk it all for love. and then i can be free.5. to tell every person who asks how long the husband and i have been married: Not long enough.

Thank you, for always making me smile. And tear up. Usually in the same post!Five things I need to do:1. Swim with dolphins, preferably with my husband and 2 boys.2. Go to NY, see a Broadway show.3. Attend a Montreal Canadiens game.4. Take a painting class.5. Learn to play an instrument.

I just had to pop on and say that the picture of Laney looking at the camera with the flowers tucked behind her ears is BREATHTAKING! She gets prettier every day!

As for the Bucket List:1. I accomplished this one 12 short days ago: give birth! I've waited 12 years for this child!2. Get my hot air balloon pilot's license3. Go hang-gliding4. visit all 50 states5. Travel to Venice

And Kellie, I'll be doing one of yours this spring! We're planning a trip to Seattle on the train - passing through Glacier Park in Montana. I'm really excited!

Loving the Anne of Green Gables idea! I grew up loving Anne so much that I walked down the aisle to "Anne's Theme" at my wedding!!My bucket list-1. Go to nursing school2. Take a road trip to Niagara Falls3. Spend more time with my closest friends4. Take more pictures5. Finally get the baby that we've been praying for

You don't know this, but we are friends. My kids look at pictures of your kids and ask if they will ever get to play with them. I don't tell you this not to worry you but instead to thank you. I have followed your blog for the last year and have found myself enjoying the small things in my own life with greater intensity. I found courage unknown in 2010 and with that a love for life that I didn't know was missing. That is, in part, thanks to you. So here are a few things on my bucket list

1. Take my and my husband's photography business to the next level. I know we can do it!2. Learn Italian3. Take a girls only trip with my closest girlfriends.4. Take a family trip to Hawaii5. Wear a bikini in public.

I wrote mine earlier for DailyChallenge, and I posted it to my blog:starryeyesforstarryskies.blogspot.comHere they are for quick referencing.1- Write a book.2- Attend the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.3- Have a family to love, play with, cook for, teach, and love some more.4- Own a home in Carmel, California - my heaven on earth.5- (the quirky one) Kick an 8-foot ceiling.

Thank you for, as always, giving me a new perspective to love who I am and all that I'm becoming.

You should write a book, your writing is amazing and I feel like I'm reading a storybook every time I read a new post!

My bucket list includes:1. Swim with dolphins2. Live somewhere other than Utah (I've lived a very redundant life in this bubble I call Utah)3. Change a flat tire on my own :)4. Learn to play an instrument other than the piano.5. Adopt a child (preferably from this amazing organization I was recently turned to called Reece's Rainbow http://reecesrainbow.org/ AMAZING! If only I had enough funds to do it now!)

ok, before my list i just have to say that i love the stripe invasion. very cool style, little miss lainey. and i was so excited to see your harvest! i was just wondering yesterday about the hampton garden!

a few from my list...1. adopt children2. travel to uganda3. write a children's book4. really learn to pole dance for my husband5. return to our honeymoon spot in costa rica

Kelle,It's funny because while reading the post before this I clicked on one of your "you might also like" posts from a year ago and cannot believe how much Lainey has grown! A year ago she still looked like a baby herself and now shes looking so grown up....mothering dogs and all :)Love the pic of Nella with Kinsley. She looks so protective...cute!Bucket list....

#1 Spend more time taking photos and learning how to rock every shot

#2 have a family and become a mama

#3 Live by the ocean even for a short time

#4 Visit every continent and see as many wonders of the world as I can

#5 Be the organized person I think I am....(but that one is boring so....)

Crap! I didn't leave my before I kick it list..opps...so tired, but I can rally;)~go to Africa with my boys...~a family trip, to disneyworld...~dance on stage @ a rock concert...~my sons names tattooed on my neck...~spend a whole month back home, with all 3 of my boys, in summer:)

oh and p.s. it was tradition growing up that when my dad and brother would go to the sec basketball championship for their "boy time" every year, my mom sister and i would watch anne (with an e) of green gables movies non-stop. we're going to go the c.s. lewis narnia series route for my boys, but when we do get girls, anne of green gables it will be!

Bucket List:1) Drive across the USA2) Eat at French Laundry3) Be a grandma (someday I pray!!)4) Witness a birth (other than my own!!!)5) Go to Holland again but this time...with "sisters" on this DS journey...join me? We can stop in Italy on the way home!

I am always dreaming and making up little schemes and big schemes (my family hates it when I say: "I've been thinking...") :-). I have never thought of having a bucket list but here are some of the things that have been dominating my 'list' lately:

1. Rent a house in the south of Spain with hubby, sister and her two kidlets (we leave in 20 days!) - for 10 weeks!

2. Learn Spanish - I speak Spanish, but painfully, so my challenge is to return from Spain able to speak at an intermediate level

How funny, it must be the age because my 3 year old girl refuses to let me pick her outfits and always chooses stripes too.So cute, they are.

I had to write a bucket list recently for a writer's workshop and it surprisingly came really easily...

a few on my list:-Teach my daughters how to sew-Photograph a sunrise on the beach -Make a wish on the top of the Eiffel Tower -Take a road trip across the U.S. -Rent a beach house for the summer on Nantucket or the Hamptons

okay, first off, nella and lainey get more beautiful every day. lainey's expressions are so mature, it cracks me right up. and how much do i love that nella's hair it in barrettes now? totally slays me.and oh my god anne and gilbert. be still my heart. yes, please, please please read it to them. it is so much more than classic.

Getting ready to comment and the one right before me (Christi with 4 children) must've been reading my mind as well because here goes my list:* try a natural birth for the first time this March with my 4th(hope I can do it!)* smile thru adversary* live with even less* read more books* meet you, Kelle

1) go on a cruise2) drive in our RV to see Mt. Rushmore3) gallop on a horse without saddle, just hanging on to the mane - on a beach4) help one (or all) of my daughter's during childbirth5) wear my wedding dress again, during a renewal of our vows ceremony on one of our anniversaries

That part about us being imperfect but recognizing that and in doing that it makes us stronger? my whole outlook on life. In being imperfect and making mistakes, they lift us to become better and shape us into who we are meant to be. if everyone was just PERFECT, how would we learn anything? We'd never accidentally stumble upon that hidden quality we may have, or go down that hidden road that leads us to a beautiful meadow. I've learned that by not being perfect, I am perfect because I am ME.

I haven't really given thought to a bucket list, but I guess there are things in this lifetime I'd really love to do so I guess I'd say these are on my list:

1. Learn a different language, fluently. At least one, if not more.2. Visit a friend I've had for years but haven't met because we met over the internet and live in different states.3. Travel outside of the United States and experience the diverseness of a culture so different from ours.4. Get a tattoo, but only one of extreme meaning, so I'd have to really want it to get it.5. Write a book and get it published. Whether it be fiction or autobiographical, I love writing. It's something I've enjoyed since I was a preteen and still do.

Perhaps not the most unique bucket list items, but their things that I'd love to do before the end of my long lifetime. (:

One huge resolution for this new year is to give my room a complete make over. I want my room to be an inspirational haven of sorts, calming and relaxing. Right now it's sorta outdated and messy and not what I want. And of course the typical "I want to lose weight" resolution but I'd say that's on most peoples.

1. Have a family of my own. I read your blog and dream of the family I am going to have someday. The little hands I'll hold and little noses I'll kiss and the cheeks I'll dry with my thumb. And the man I'll love. : )

2. Travel. I want to see places. I want to learn from people in other parts of the world. I want to Elizabeth Gilbert my way through life. ; )

3. Get published. I'm a quiet person in my day-to-day life, but I have a lot to say. I have had a lot of live experiences, and I'm honest in my writing. I want to reach people in the world that way- to let them know they're not alone.

4. Own my own house. With a wrap-around porch and cherry blossom trees in the front yard. A house I'll decorate with white fairy lights during Christmastime, and that I'll fill with the warmth of food and fireplaces and love.

5. Finish getting my Master's degree. Survive my time away from home, and more than that, learn to soak it up and find the beauty this season of my life has to offer.

I am so into bucket lists right now! I started mine about a month ago. I have 40 things on there so far...and can't wait to add to it! Some of the biggies for me are:1. Have a baby2. Write a book (and get it published)3. Take a trip to Italy4. Celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square5. Learn how to sew something more than just a button or fixing a hole in a shirt.

I made up a "40 things I want to do before I'm 40" list a few months ago, and I got to cross off one of them yesterday. #1 on my list is to finish my list, so I've been thinking about it yesterday and today. Then I decided to catch up on my blog reading and THANK YOU for this post, because I've been able to go through and be inspired with some more things to add. 5 of my goals are:

1. Cook a meal using only food we produced ourselves.2. Learn all the words to the song "It's like that". Almost there! I just keep forgetting a few.3. Try every flavour of Baskin and Robbins ice-cream and Juliettes sorbet. (I must say I LOVE working on this one) ;)4. Go surfing.5. Have a family camping trip every year. We're doing well and have had 3 annuals so far, lets see if I can keep it up for another 13 years eh.

I thought I would give out the ones that don't cost anything, or much, just in case others are looking for some inspiration too. Good luck with your bucket list!

(i'm not sure why my comment keeps disappearing? so i'll try one last time...sorry if it appears 3 times at some point)It's difficult to just give you 5 from my long bucket list...I have very attainable ones (give more hugs) to BIG dreamy ones (go on an African safari)...but they all count so here's 5...

1. Complete my first triathlon2. Learn to sew like my amazing Mom so that I can make any costumes my adventurous boys dream up3. See U2 in IRELAND with my boys and hubby- we've already seen them 4 times in our hood-Western Canada-the last one, we took our boys (then 8 & 5) to see them in Vancouver BC-absolutely exhilarating!!4. Learn to take breath taking photos in MANUAL mode-then take millions of my kids!! Before they grow up!!5. Take our boys to Central Park-with a picnic and a mind set to just "be" (we spent our 10th Anniversary there in 2008 and would love to take our boys to this magical place)

1. I want to visit the Grand Canyon and see the beauty it beholds!2. Drive from St Louis all the way to L.A.3. Visit Spain and enjoy all things the cultures has to offer. Amazing food, music and dance!4. Meet John Legend5. Learn to Salsa Dance!

1. Renew the look of our living room. Right now is says "I'm so 22 and don't have a baby" now I need it to say "I am 26 and a proud parent" Haha.2. Have another baby (maybe two) :)3. Visit the Georgia O'Keefe museum in New Mexico.4. Have an espresso in Paris with my husband.5. Visit the Taj Mahal

Of course I have a few on there that are for 2011, but for the others, sometime I hope <3

1.Go to Israel with my girls for the summer2.Go on vacation to Europe with my husband-I've been to Alaska, China, and Baranquilla, but not Paris!3.Become intensely obsessed with Yoga.4.Record an album using my great grandmothers Yiddish poems from the book she published and dedicated to me 28 years ago.5. Open a recording studio for women only.

1. Travel the world - I want to see EVERYTHING!2. Change the world - I dream of acceptance for children with extra chromosomes and any other different-abilities.3. Write a ton of books and get them all published.4. Get (and stay) healthy. Overcome my heart issues.5. Stay sane enough to to all of the above until my kids are old enough to allow me more me-time.- Love your blog... as always!

I've finally gotten thru to post a comment after months of lying on the outskirts, wanting to share & tell you how much your words & photos touch me.... just lovely ....

bucket list -1. Travel to Egypt to see those pyramids & marvel at what people could do w/out massive tools & the conveniences of today.2. Tell my lovely daughter (born 3 months ago) all the stories of her birth, childhood, growing up that I didn't get to hear b/c I wasn't raised by my mother.3. Return to my grandmother's grave & cry the tears she was due - the tears I wasn't able to cry when she left b/c I was shocked & alone.4. (hopefully) have a second child so my daughter won't be alone when I move along to the after life.5. travel to some exotic beach & spend time lounging like one of beautiful people ...

Aside from solving the Earth's problems, here are five somewhat selfish things on my bucket list:

#1 Learn to sew#2 Get the tattoo i've been thinking about for years#3 Travel the world - maybe in a hot air balloon, maybe in a huge pink snail shell....somehow i WILL do it#4 Fill our house with babies#5 Become happier and healthier, on the whole.

1. Take my duaghter to Disney2. Read a book a month on any subject I enjoy.3. Hot air baloon ride for my 30th4. Make handmade Christmas stockings for my daughter and I so she will have a keepsake from me.5. Start a blog.

What a great post. Ag awesome pics too. I think Lainey is right. When you are little there can never be too many stripes!

My bucket list - I have never thought about it, but here are a few items I would (and am) adding....Go sky diving. I am deathly afraid of heights, but it would be cool to say I did it.Visit Africa.Read the whole Bible.Go camping in the jungle.Go on a missions trip.

Okay, 1. Go to Ireland.2. Have more babies.3. Teach my children to love music the way my husband and I do.4. Be apart of an audience on a live talk show. 5. Start a garden! (that one is more like a resolution for this year)

Oh, I looooooved Anne of Green Gables as a girl. I've never made a bucket list (perhaps I should) so I'm wingin' it here:1. Take the StarLight Express train across Canada (I'm not sure this exists, but it should)2. Visit Scotland, and the town there that my ancestors came from 3. Work for myself (start a bakery, cafe, small farm, craft busines...something!)4. Spend a whole month doing absolutely nothing but eating and wakling around and reading in a small mediterranean town5. Be a mama

I am with you on the train trip. Living near the line the runs from New Orleans to Chicago, I would love to make the trip to Chicago and see the sights. Maybe this year will be the year. My sweet daughter never made it through my beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder and still likes her picture books but maybe next year.Kellie

my 5 item bucket list for the new year: 1. refinish 3 pieces of furniture all by myself. 2. make a scrapbook 3. plan a special birthday celebration for my husband. 4. go to Savannah with my husband 5. grow our business by 25%

thank you for asking this question. Typing these makes me feel more resolute.

oh, and I just became a sahm to my 1.5, as of yesterday. While I am nervous that I will do right by her in teaching and showing her all the wonders I can, I am excited for our cupcake baking days and tea parties. And then of course the ever so often tantrum, boo-boo or what have you. wish me luck! thank you Kelle!

My bucket list is quite long, but here 5 of my items:1) graduate with my Masters in Theology (I've applied, just waiting to hear if I'm accepted!)2) travel to Rome, Florence and Venice with my husband and 8 close friends...staying in purely Italian houses and drinking great Italian wine.3) take cake decorating classes4) take my kids on a train ride to anywhere just because trains are so fun! 5) Take my daughter to see a Broadway in NYC, because Broadway has the power to change your life.

I hope you have a wonderful year Kelle and that you check some of the things off of your bucket list!

I guess I'm one of your older readers, Kelle, and until I read through the comments, I hadn't realized how full my bucket already is! I'm one lucky Grammy. But of course, I still have a few things on my list--they never empty, do they?Mine, in no particular order, is:

*Spend more time with my grandkids, especially my grandsons (since I already babysit their cousin twice a week.)*Learn Spanish so I can speak with the people who help me most. I'm finding my French keeps trying to bleed into the Spanish!*Plan a trip back to France with my sisters to visit the place we lived when our father died. I was 8. They were 3 and 1 1/2. I want them to know it, to have memories I can share with them.*Get this way-too-long-sedentary body back in tip top shape, but give it time.*Find meaningful volunteer work. I'm thinking CASA-Court Appointed Special Advocate. It isn't enough just to love my own children. Love must be multiplied. Justice too!

I have a bucket list. I made it a few months ago. I call it my life list though and it is amazing the things you accomplish wants you write them down...things I've always wanted to do that I actually did just so I could cross them off once written. I have over 100 but the 5 I plan on accomplishing this year...

I have many things on my Bucket list,I call it a life list.I add to it every once in a while and sometimes,when I am doing something spur of the moment that I think " This should have been on my list!!" finds its way onto it with a big CHECK beside it!!!I wrote it about 5 years ago and it is very dear. Here are 5 in no particular order:

1.Spend Christmas and New years in NYC

2. Sled down a sand hill in Egypt

3. Pull an all nighter with my little girl just laughing and doing each others nails and watching movies giggling and just having a BLAST!

4. ZIP LINE in a crazy forrest

5. Go to devils falls in Africa with my Brother. Its breathtaking and in the most recent thing I have added to my list:)

CHEERS!!!

Chantelle

P.S Those photos of Lainey are just precious..She looks so grown up all of a sudden:)

I got chills when I read your comment about reading Anne of Green Gables to your girls. I can't wait to share those books with my children. On my bucket list visit Prince Edward Island the beautifully lush green background for the movies.

My bucket list for next 5 years:)1) take my kids to Disney2) get a great camera ans take lots of pictures!3) Move to another state4) enhance my multiple Disability Program in my school district5) Have another baby (my husband has to agree first)

Thanks for sharing your bucket list. Now here's mine:)1) Swim with the dolphins - hoping to do this in Florida when we're there either in May or December2) Have a baby:)3) Send my sweet baby girl off to preschool. It's going to be tough but I have to do it!4) Hope our house sells in 2011 so we can buy a new one with a yard and more space!5) Take a plane ride with my daughter to the East Coast. Husband is staying home and I am afraid to travel alone but I need to conquer it and I will in 3 weeks!

At first I felt hesitant to make a list, because the cup is 1/2 empty side of me was trying to control things. I tend to be very realistic and down to earth, which can impede dreaming of things to do someday if they seem like it wouldn't be possible. So, I will refresh my perspective and it feels great!

1. Determine how to financially restructure so I can be a stay at home mom to my littles before they get much older.2. Visit Italy again (and again, and again : )3. Explore the parts of Europe I missed on the first trip.4. Raise happy, kind, strong children.5. Make decisions that reflect my priorities.

Wow, that was easy once I started. Not so much a bucket list entirely, but a good list.

Hello Kelle!I love this post! I really loved your bucket list #5, read Anne of Green Gables and have them ask "if Anne was going to eventually fall in love with Gilbert"!! My 13 year old is reading those books now! On my bucket list:1. 4th of July in Boston while listening to the Pops play along with the AMAZING fireworks!2. Ride a reining horse and look like I know what I am doing!3. Learn to snowboard, and again, look like I know what I am doing!4. Go back to Italy where I lived when I was 7.5. Make it to Hawaii with my wonderful husband!Thank you for this post! I cannot wait to see the celebration for Nella!

Oh I am soooo jealous! Our garden has been put to rest for over three months. I miss my fresh beans and peas and basil, man I miss that basil!! Five things on my bucket list...hmmm...#1 become the mom I want to be and not the one that I am now (learning that things aren't always perfect)...#2 going to Hawaii with my family...#3 make some great road trips to the NE with my family, learning the history of our country...#4 go to Paris with my husband and fall in love all over again...#5 (the most important and is coming true in the next few years :) ) adopt a precious soul from Reece's Rainbow to call our very own and add more than just a person to our family. Thanks for asking and for sharing yours. That train ride might have to make it to my bucket list also!! Never been on a train.

1) Travel the around the world with my boy (or more if we are blessed) and "unschool" him for the year.2) Earn a PhD3) Build a home in the country and live off the land4) provide hippo therapy at said home in the country5) Adopt a child waiting for a home

So crazy that you are asking for a "Bucket List" Husband and I were trying to think of things like this the other day....

Mine1. To concieve our first child this year. The sooner the better. 2. To be able to stay at home with our (future) children. 3. To travel Europe. To see where our families are from. (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and France) 4. To travel to Australia to see his family.

5. Love and live more freely, without having an adgenda or a to do list. To pick up and go. Or be able to turn off the cell phones and just be. Together.

That is all. For now. But really I am hoping for 1, 2, and 5. The sooner the better. Cannot rush things though right?

Beautiful, as always. Happy new year to you!1. Swim under a waterfall with my husband.2. Take a trip to the mountains and spend the weekend relaxing in a cozy cottage fireside. (Don't know if this will happen since I live in Fl and I'm terrified of flying..maybe I'll do the train thing. :)3. Go to the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade and enjoy NY during the Holidays.4. For my babies to consider me their best friend when they graduate from college. 5. Enjoy every single day I'm blessed with.

Oh, Anne and Gilbert! I love Anne of Green Gables! I also love Little Women and I remember my Grandma reading it to me chapter by chapter when I was about 8 or so and I too, begged for another and another. Good memories.

OK, 5 things from my bucket list

1) Paris. Just Paris.2) Les Miserables on Broadway3) To cook meals as good as chef Kate, all the time.4) To know, really know God my Father5) Italy with my husband...All of it.

See the Northern Lights.Take tap dancing lessons.Learn how to play the oboe.Ride in a hot air balloon.Go to Salzberg, dress in costume like Maria VonTrapp every day, live the Sound of Music tour (also, find a friend who is willing to put up with this or who is willing to drink enough to be able to put up with this).

I don't know if you read all of your comments, but I thought I would tell you something.

I have read your blog for 6 months or so now, started because I'm a photographer and I got linked over here somehow, stayed because you have such a way of putting your life into words that I find soothing and inspiring.

Before I read your blog, I never thought much about a child being born with some kind of difference. I won't say handicap, because after reading your blog, seeing your pictures, ENJOYING watching your Nella grow, I am in awe of her. I say to myself all the time that I think she is just amazingly beautiful. I love that she is wild and bossy with her babies, and I love that you let her be who she is, and adore her.

Just wanted to tell you that you (and Nella) have changed one person's perceptions entirely.

Here are 5 from my six month bucket list, as in we'll be doing these things hopefully within the next 6 months.

1. Take the girls downtown to do a Chicago River boat tour as soon as it's warm out.2. Take the girls to Montrose Beach as soon as it's warm enough out.3. Take the girls to Lincoln Park zoo.4. Spend the night in Lake Geneva.5. Throw a cocktail party. Like, a REAL cocktail party. Never have had one, think it'd be SO much fun.

I don't really have a bucket list, but have been thinking as I read other peoples!1. go on a 15yr anniversary/40th birthday celebration for a week w/my husband, ALONE and somewhere warm and with a beach.2. take my children to Disney.3. go to Italy4. Run the Philadelphia Broad Street Run.5. Become a lactation consultant.--k

I don't know if I have 5 things on my list right now but I would like to run a 1/2 marathon, maybe a full and survive the first few months of my newborn daughter and the sleepless nights that surely will pass right?

Thanks...thanks for the inspiration! I found Daily Challenge because of you and now several friends and I participate and post on how we're doing. I am taking more photos because seeing your photo-documentation of your girls' lives reminds me that I'm not taking enough photos and before we know it, they'll leave the nest and I will wish I had taken the pics! Thanks for the different things you introduce your readers to...whether it is a designer gene necklace (which I bought for my friend, whose dear Molly has that extra little lovin' gene), a website, or just crafty ideas, THANKS!

Such a small world! I adore Abernathy! We actually went to school together. She's fabulous and I'm anxiously awaiting my What Goes Down print to be framed and hung in my office! Yay for a new year and clean slate!

My bucket list...things I really want, and need, to accomplish this year:- Find someone in this wonderful country that feels like home.- Find a new job in that place.- Go to the doctor and get a checkup.- Live in the moment.- Be more confident.

1. Go somewhere outside of the U.S. with my husband.2. Go to the West Coast and see the Pacific Ocean.3. Go back to Spain with my best friend.4. Swim with dolphins.5. (I'm stealing your sleeper car train travel one. Is that okay?)

I don't have a lifelong bucket list. But I do set goals for the year. So here are mine for this year.1) Go to a luxury spa/fitness resort in Tuscan for my 40th bday present to myself (I turned 40 last year but was preg). Alone or with friends...doesn't matter I'm going.2) Run at least one 5k (which I've done before) and at least one 10k (never done).3) Ride in Pelotonia again. (Bike ride in Ohio supporting Cancer research). Rode 2 years ago but couldn't last year...pregnant.4) Now that I'm done making babies, get back in physical shape and weighing what I did at my wedding 3 years ago5) Go on a beach vacation with my two beautiful boys and my sweet husband.6) Finish our wedding album.7) Get up to date on the boys' baby books.8) At least start our ginormous house remodel/addition project.

My bucket list - for today anyway.(1). Enjoy myself in NYC this coming June even though my husband refuses to accompany me there.(2). Spend more time playing games with my grown children and now grandchildren. Making sure I remember the way their laughter makes our walls sing.(3). Take a blanket, basket, my two dogs and my family to a park - any old park. Spread it all out on the grass - and stay there until it either becomes to chilly to enjoy it - or it's just simply time to return home. (4). Take a picture everyday everyday everday and actually do something with them.(5). Create for my little old self - my very own blog.

So I wasn't the only one to take Gilbert as my one and only true first love? Remember those movies? I still have dreams about the actor that played him - and that brings me to the first item on my bucket list...

1. Find and rewatch the Anne of Green Gables series.2. Take a Grandma, Mommy, Daughter trip to Paris.3. A vacation home. Period. Someplace we can all dream about when we're not there. But a place that is quaint and warm enough that we won't so much mind coming back to the windy city, either.4. Sing with a band.5. Learn to knit like my mother in law. Or quilt. Everything that woman does is an heirloom. I strive to create forever things.

Hey Kelle, Here are a few items off of my bucket list :)1. Be a surrogate mother for a family 2. Travel across the country in an RV with my husband and baby3. Move South! Seeing as though youre from Michigan, I'm sure you understand why we'd like to leave ohio for somewhere warmer haha (and we're moving this summer!)4. Help deliver a baby5. Surprise my husband with a honeymoon since we didnt take one

And I thought I would share my favorite inspiration :)"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." --Eleanor Roosevelt

Having 3 children who are now 24, 21, and 18, I SO WISH after reading your blog (which I faithfully stalk) that I was having babies right now, and listening to your musings and heartfelt thoughts. I could have used someone like you way back 20 years ago or so :)My bucket list? Well, let me say that I did do #5 on your bucket list. Anne of GG is my very favorite book and I did read the book to my oldest girl who listened to me read all 6 (!) books in the series, and then turned around and read them all again herself a few year later. An amazing feeling when you can share book love with your kids.Sleeping on a train would be on my bucket list too.Also, horseback riding down into Bryce Canyon NP with my whole family is another one.Walking hand in hand in Paris with my (still handsome and hot) husband whom I am still madly in love with after 31 years of marriage.And, finally kayaking down an exotic river in Africa and going on a safari!Thank you, Kelle.

Bucket List (in no particular order):1. Visit all the US states2. Learn sign language3. Take the photography class and photoshop class that I keep "checking into".4. Picnic in central park5. Watch my daughter fall in love and get married.

* Travel all 7 continents -- only 3remain on my list.* Adopt a little girl from Rwanda Africa.* Become a midwife.* Learn to crochet well.* Buy land and begin to build an incredible getaway for years to come.

Love the photos of you and the girls (and Nella and Baby Kinsley--adorable!). They are gorgeous! As are all of you!

Five items from my bucket list:1) Skate at Rockefeller Centre at Christmastime.2) Share our family's first Disney World trip with my sister, brother-in-law, neice and three nephews. 3) Learn how to surf. Then drive around in a jeep with a surfboard in the trunk. 4) Get enough drive to actually commit to it and pursue the novel--then get it published.5) Finally, really understand all the functions of my camera.

And, I feel for you about the dirty throat problem. This weekend I was admitted to Toddler Hospital, told my temperature was off the charts at ''twenty eleventeen'' and that I would require ''chemo.'' And to think I just went in with a papercut!

1) Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.2) Raise my kids to be happy people.3) Travel the world with my husband!4) Buy into Disney Vacation Club - check!5) Move out of Oklahoma where we've spent our whole lives and start a new adventure with our kiddos!

Happy 2011 to you and your beautiful family.5 things from my bucket list (won't be accomplished in 2011, but soon, I hope!)-Whitewater raft the Grand Canyon-Discover whatever has been calling my soul to Tibet and Nepal-Complete grad school and find a job doing what I love-Become a mama-Make sure my husband always knows how much I love him

Doesn't it feel great to have peace from a clean space? That has been a big part of my resolution this year - the big overall category of "Find More Joy" - starting with keeping things simple but caught up!

I haven't really done a bucket list, but there are things that I have always wanted to do. Here are a few...1) Spend a week in Ireland2)Visit New England in the fall with my family3)take a cooking class

More important for me, though, are the things I am working toward every day - a calmer, more loving existence, focusing on my little boys, because they are growing so fast!

God bless you and your family - you always find a way to reach what is hidden in us and articulate it so well!

Oh goodness. I have heard of these things called bucket lists but never taken the time to make one of my own...I must say when I do make one I will have to steal one from yours because Anne of Green Gables is my absolute favorite story and movie and I have a little girl of my own now :)

But I did have one thing I was going to say before I saw your request for bucket lists...I hope you don't think this is weird..but if you do...oh well...that will be on my list too...Stop caring so much what people think...just be yourself! haSo when I saw the picture of Nella cuddling that precious baby...my heart was immediately gripped and I saw future Nella...5...10...15 years from now. A Nella whose eyes say it all...acceptance, love, compassion for any and every soul. Because that's what she has known. It's who she is.Anyways...here's to the changing seasons and what they bring. Roller coaster hills and all :)

Happy New Year Kelle! One thing on the very top of my list this year is photography-mostly inspired by you and your blog! By reading your blog and having you photograph my children before, I was so wanting to be able to do even just a small a portion of what you can do with your camera. I begged and pleaded and got a better camera last month! I'm in love with what I can already do with it-and I really don't even know what I'm doing yet!

I am reading Anne of Green Gables to my 8-year-old right now. My book is worn and falling apart with yellow pages....it never gets old and we are both loving it! New Year's resolution: to make a bucket list!

you inspire me so much. i am way too Type A and need to stop being so uptight about having a clean house and amazing dinner prepared and just enjoy my little boy before he grows up and goes away to school. that is one of my goals this year - to enjoy my son more and to not think of him as a rational adult, but as a toddler who is just exploring his world, testing limits.

some things on my bucket list include:1) traveling to Italy with my husband -- who knows when that will happen, but hopefully before we're too old to enjoy it!2) bake a turkey by myself. raw birds freak me out, but i vow to do it soon!3) possibly open my own photography business. but in the mean time, just improve my skills and enjoy it.4) watch less tv. read more. 5) become the kind of person that i want my son to admire when he is old enough not to just love me because i am his mom.

1. Swim with a dolphin.2. Write a book, I'm thinking a memoir with a twist.3. Go camping, like with a tent and a fire for cooking fish and roasting marshmallows.4. Visit Ireland.5. Learn ASL and Spanish.

Okay, can I just say your girls are gorgeous and precious?! Ah! I loved the pictures in this post!!! I don't actually have a bucket list, but a few things I'd like to do are: 1) Go back to the Grand Canyon - and take my kids2) Disney World with the fam3) Have a VERY successful photography biz4)Build my dream house (or at least something close to it!)5) Get FIT!

My Bucket List is fairly extensive. Some things were going to be removed this year because of my brother's death, but then I decided maybe I'd do them anyways in his honor.

Top 5 on my bucket list1. Go skydiving. (This was supposed to be with my brother)2. Visit Ireland.3. Learn to play guitar and bass.4. Get married.5. Have kids.

The last two, well, they seem to be the most far-fetched of the list! At 31, I'm still single with no prospects on the horizon. But, God has a plan for me and hopefully a man for me as well. And if push comes to shove, I'll just have that kid by myself!

1. New Years Eve in NYC2. Travel with my friends and love of my life in Italy and around Europe 3. Have the wedding of my dreams that’s filled with peace love and joy4. Travel to Maui to have the last vacation, before I’m called MOM5. Buy a home

Oh wow, I don't have a bucket list, definitely need to work on one, but there are a few things I would love to do not sure maybe they would go on my bucket list. Here goes:

1. visit Paris2. run a half marathon3. teach my kids a different language4. volunteer in a orphanage5. this one is a more a wish, that my kids weren't so picky and ate all the vegetables I gave them ALWAYS! That last one would make me happy forever and I wouldn't need Paris, sigh I love my kids.

Can't wait to see the party details, and I LOVE the photos of you and your girls, I need to have a photo shoot with my two little ones before they get older.

You are so friggin inspirational! And this post about some of your bucket list items goes right along with the new blog I JUST started (inspired by you!) ...dreamstodo.blogspot.com

I'm a scatter brain with a constantly changing bucket list, but here are a few of mine:

- Find my passion and figure out how to use it to work from home, so I can spend more time with my baby- Take a photography class so that I can actually learn how to use my fancy camera and what all the terminoligy means- Be an extra in a movie (just so I can say I was in one)- Master "The Secret" - the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction- Volunteer in Africa

~Meander over to Australia.~Complete a marathon.~Raise my girls to be compassionate and thoughtful young ladies.~Learn to knit.~Learn some cool new photography tricks...soon. My girls are sooo cute and I don't want to miss any of it!

As always I'm inspired by your spirit communicated so beautifully through your blog. I'm actually pretty impressed with Lainey's sense of style. I'm thinking my 4 yos would come up with some kind of over-the-top pink, sparkly, princess mess. Ahhh, bucket list. I've been working on it recently and so much of it involves travel. I need to work on some other aspects too, but here goes . . .

1. Hike the Appalachian Trail with my kids and husband--at least part of it.

2. Take my twin daughters to Paris for their 16th birthday.

3. Learn to play tennis and get to wear those adorable skirts.

4. Rent a house in Europe one summer to spend time with the family really living a different lifestyle.

First, a couple of comments...sleeping in sleeper cars IS heavenly! I love sticky macaroni...clumps of cheese intertwined, yum! AND you inspired me to go back and read Anne of Green Gables again, because it's been far, far too long.

Bucket list (in no particular order):-See the Pyramids and take a moonlit camel ride-Become fluent in Spanish and Italian-Take my husband to the Great Barrier Reef -Be someone that my daughter is proud of-Start a non-profit dedicated to providing scholarships for underprivileged girls to take dance lessons, in honor of my aunt.

Kelle,This is easily one of my top 5 favorite posts of yours. And that's sayin' somethin' because I think they're all pretty fabulous.

Anyhow... 5 on my bucket list:

1. Plant a willow tree. I dream of going back to visit and having picnics beneath it's wispy branches and reading a good book in it's shade.

2. Try sushi. Sushi may be an equivalent to your fear of sharks for me. The slimy texture freaks me out. But I think any cultured person needs to at least give it a try. Still procrastinating with that...

3. Incubate a duckling egg and raise the little downy puff with the girls. I don't know how realistic this is with animal laws and such, but I'd settle for a caterpillar turning into a butterfly if I had to.

4. Tuscany. It went from a fantasy to a mission. I want to go with Scot the girls when the "girls" are then "young women". I want to roam through the market with them, devouring massive quantities of gelato and letting it run down our chins like we're all still kids. And then when we head home we'll watch the sunset over wine country and sip on vino together and reminisce about when that moment was just a dream in the distant future.

5. Rock climbing. This one is a new years resolution and I'm hoping to cross it off my list very soon. I've always wanted to. Simple as that.

Whew! This is lengthy! Ha! Fun to share though! I'm excited to go back and read others responses!

1. MAKE a bucket list! 2. Travel to Banff, Canada. I will be speechless from its beauty, I just know it!3. Start my own business - hoping to get it off the ground in 2011!4. Rent a cabin on a silent beach somewhere and spend a week there with my 4 beautiful boys.5. Get a GOOD camera and learn to use it like YOU!

1. MAKE a bucket list! 2. Travel to Banff, Canada. I will be speechless from its beauty, I just know it!3. Start my own business - hoping to get it off the ground in 2011!4. Rent a cabin on a silent beach somewhere and spend a week there with my 4 beautiful boys.5. Get a GOOD camera and learn to use it like YOU!

hi kelle. i wanted to let you know that i think you are saving me. i found out at the end of october that i am pregnant with a little girl with Down syndrome (due 5/4). i had actually read your article in parents magazine before i found out about the diagnosis. i instinctively didn't want to read it because i am 42 and had just found out i was pregnant and was already nervous about the chances. nevertheless i read it and was struck by the fact that you didn't know beforehand. of course now i have done so much research i know that is almost always the case - you don't know until the baby is born and sometimes i wonder if that is better. my husband, john, and i had struggled with fertility problems for years and were blessed with two "miracle" babies, a daughter who is 4 1/2 and a little boy who just turned 1. i also have a 13 year old daughter from my first marriage. we were not expecting, nor trying for this current pregnancy....i could go on and on and won't because what i really want to be saying is thank you. thank you for making having a baby with ds look so desirable. thank you for being so inspirational. thank you for being so real. thank you for being my savior. nella is adorable and extraordinary; as is lainey. thank you for all of your words and for the wonderful pictures. when i first found out i was pregnant with a ds baby i was wildly searching the internet for pictures, pictures of what my "new life" would be like and i couldn't find anything satisfying and then i saw your blog come up in a search and remembered you from the parents article and your blog has been life changing for me. when i found it i went back and read every posting, starting when lainey was little up until the present and i return to your blog everyday to drink in the pictures and words of wisdom - they truly calm me and motivate me. i've been wanting to comment and finally feel that i'm emotionally in a place where i can coherently do so (i hope that's the case). i am comforted to know that your blog will be there to guide my way when my little one is born. my bucket list seems to be in limbo right now as my mind cannot completely grasp the future. for now i know that i want to go to greece and cruise the greek islands, i want to go to hawaii and see every beach the islands have to offer, i want to write a book and i want to design our retirement home - wherever that may be. thank you for saving me!

Okay ...I am going to uncover my bucket list from the old chest it is in......

Goes as follows( no order , just picked )14.Ride in a taxi15. Have my palm read10. Renew my wedding vows 7. Ride on the back of a scooter in ROME with my husband30.Swim with dolphins ( they are not sharks ,but still kind of scary to be so close to them .....well in my mind it is )

My bucket list was made last year ...and I got to recently mark one item off .

13. See my sister hug my mom and dad again.................Thanks to the lord I have a check off.and Im only 26 so I got some time for the rest:)

Your blogs inspire me everyday, Your girls are beautiful and the music is the bomb !!!

My top few are:- move to Romania! - travel all over Europe, by train- walk down my own path picking wildflowers with my little guy on my back- built my own space to be able to metalsmith- breathe life in and live it to the fullest!

1. Run a marathon (or a half) with my jogging stroller and sleeping toddler in tow, so she can wake up to a crowd of cheering people thinking that all that noise is just for her. Because in reality, those cheers will signify only a fraction of the joy my heart sings for her every day!2. Spend (the majority) of our Christmas dollars on a family in need. (I’ll be honest, we don’t need anything.)3. Spend one technology-free week at Ross Lake Resort (http://www.rosslakeresort.com) with the four people and two sets of paws that really matter in my life.4. Maintain a weeklong diet of margaritas and finger foods at a tropical resort to celebrate ‘Turning 30’ with my chosen family . . . aka my best girlfriends.5. Start an annual NYE Midnight Breakfast tradition with our friends, family and all their kids.

With one wild, precious life...I WILL:1. Attend an NBA game with my husband and teenage sons.2. Rent a cabin in the mountains and see snow for the first time...(maybe for my 25th anniversary.)3. Find and meet Johnny Depp with my 18-year old daughter.4. Get a really cool car with a stripe when all of the kids finish college.5. Go on a cruise with all of the extended family.

I love the part about cleaning the room and donating to goodwill. I did the same thing this past weekend-there is something about organzing, donating, and cleaning that puts me at ease! Even if its only for a short time that I actually have a clean/organized house.

Never had a bucket list but here are a few things I want to do this coming year:

1. Have my first baby2. Volunteer in my city more3. Rent a beach house with friends and enjoy the calm and craziness with it all4. Save, save save5. Redo our basement to make room for hopefully a baby this year!

No the baby wouldn't go in the basement but we do need room to move things elsewhere!! Happy New Year!

1. Take a culinary tour of Italy and France. I want to try it all, the bread, the cheese, the wine, the locally grown produce, everything!2. Run a marathon.3. Ride the Orient Express4. Become a mother5. Find a way to make doing what I live my job.

1. Take a culinary tour of Italy and France. I want to try it all, the bread, the cheese, the wine, the locally grown produce, everything!2. Run a marathon.3. Ride the Orient Express4. Become a mother5. Find a way to make doing what I live my job.

A bucket list...they scare me for what I don't accomplish I fail! This year I'd like to be more flexible, stop letting others thoughts change me, be myself, love my girls wholly...including the parts of them I don't like..i.e. tantrums, backtalk...and to be less fearful. Live in the moment

hmmm... my bucket list... I think I'll put what I'd like to do for the year. 1. Hope like hell I can get pregnant again... (back to the specialist again...2. I would like to have a date night at least once a month with my hubby... even if it's only out for fast food... just him and me.3. Lose weight/ get into shape4. Get a passport. 5. Take more pictures

5 things?Take Kaishon to Disney world while he is still young enough to be enthralled.Be kinder than necessary every day. Even when I feel unkind. And grumpy.Plant flowers at my Grammy and PopPop's graveside.Make a really good dinner and surprise my boys.Go on a run.